CWU Conference – Bournemouth – 28^th April – 2^ndMay 2019

Bucket Collections

Branches are reminded that any requests for Bucket Collections during Annual Conference need to be put in writing to conferences@cwu.org and not the General Secretary’s Department as previously advised in LTB 115/19. Written requests should include background material/information/full details on the organisation for which the collection is to be made.   The General Conference SOC will be advised accordingly and arrangements will be made for the collections.   The monies collected will be counted by the SDGS Department and a cheque will be made out to the appropriate bodies.

The number of bucket collections during conference will only exceptionally exceed two.

Distribution of Documents at General Conference

All requests for the distribution of documents on delegates’ seats shall, in the first instance, be referred in writing to the General Conference SOC, together with a copy of the document(s) concerned, for consideration.   Please send any requests to conferences@cwu.org

Any documents that have been agreed for distribution on delegates’ seats at General conference shall be delivered to the General Conference Administration office by no later than 5pm on the day prior to distribution.

Branches are reminded of the facility of the Conference Guide to publicise meetings and other events.

Seating at Conference

If any member of your delegation requires special seating due to special needs or a disability

they should email conferences@cwu.org as soon as possible stating the reason and the conference(s) the member will be attending and no later than Friday 29^th March 2019.   Branches need to be aware that allocated seating is only in the Windsor Hall.

Any queries regarding this Letter to Branches should be addressed to Angela Niven on 020 8971 7256 or by email to conferences@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

A P Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

19LTB174-CWU-Conference-Bucket-Collections-etc

Culture Visits Feedback and Interim Joint Statement

Further to LTB 695/18, Branches will be aware that Joint Culture visits were due to be conducted at 62 workplaces within Royal Mail Group with the agreed reports being submitted by 22nd February 2019.  However with any initiative of this magnitude there was always going to be a slight delay with visits to certain locations due to diary commitments and other factors.  Nonetheless, I am pleased to announce that at the time of writing this LTB, the joint visits to the vast majority of units have been completed and over 2,000 participants have provided an insight into their working environment.

I am due to visit a further 6 sites with Sally Ashford, Chief HR Officer which will take place over the coming weeks at Wythenshawe, Prescott, West Park and Aireborough Delivery Offices as well as at the Home Counties North and Edinburgh Mail Centres.  In addition, a meeting is due to be held with Royal Mail Group on 21st March 2019 to begin the voluminous work that is required to jointly analyse both the positive and negative feedback received. It is however already evident that whilst some matters will require further national dialogue, others can be resolved locally.

At a meeting on 19th March 2019, the Postal Executive were provided with an update in relation to the considerable amount of joint work that has been conducted and endorsed the attached Interim Joint Statement. This outlines the next three key steps and also provides examples of some of the reoccurring themes and issues that can be resolved locally.

Branches will appreciate that whilst there is still much overall work yet to be completed, our members will expect to see some “quick wins” following the Joint Culture visits. It is therefore vitally important that the text within the Interim Joint Statement is used as the basis of resolving these issues and providing “quick wins” in the workplace.

This mutual interest activity will be addressed through the development of local action plans under the guidance of the Lead CWU Divisional Representative and Managers who held the visit(s).This work will also highlight and resolve similar issues that have been identified at neighbouring sites and will be jointly reviewed after three months.

The Joint Statement refers to the national discussions to progress the culture activity, the independent evaluation and further joint communications. Evidently, it is imperative that there is not a communications vacuum in the next few weeks and as a result I am requesting that Branches give this statement the highest possible publicity. In addition, a two page article will be appearing in the Voice magazine that is due to be dispatched imminently.

I would also like to make Branches aware that our Research Department is in the process of finalising an assessment of the data returned which will be circulated in due course and will no doubt recall that the process for the culture visits in relation to Parcelforce Worldwide was announced in LTB 101/19 and work is about to commence.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to those who have participated in this Joint Activity that has been so successful in giving members an opportunity to provide honest feedback as well as voicing their opinions.

Click here to watch the video from Terry Pullinger

The CWU are committed to addressing the culture in Royal Mail Group and your responses are providing the platform to complete this work.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Pullinger
Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

Attachment to LTB 173.19 – Interim Culture Visits Update – 8-3-19

Update from DGSP Terry Pullinger on Royal Mail Culture

VIDEO FROM DGSP TERRY PULLINGER ON PENSIONS ANNOUNCEMENT

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CWU Exchange Mentoring – Activists Supporting Activists 2019

A key aspect of supporting our representative structure is the continuation, development and further roll out of the CWU Exchange Mentoring Scheme.

“CWU Exchange Mentoring” is the CWU mentoring scheme designed to develop new activists through utilising the skills and experience of our more experienced representatives.

The initial pilot scheme was targeted at relatively new Women, BAME and Youth activists who were active in their Branch, workplace or Region and most had been active for up to three years.

Widening the programme and selection of additional CWU Exchange Mentors

Potential new mentors from across the whole union are now invited to apply through a formal application process.

If any current representatives are interested, please complete the attached application form which will detail skills, experiences and understanding of mentoring.

A national Steering Group will shortlist the successful candidates and they will be invited to attend a two day training course. The following criteria will apply:

• At least 5 years’ experience within the CWU at a senior level at Branch, Regional, National, or IR level
• Excellent communications skills including public speaking
• A demonstrable commitment to developing new activists
• An understanding of the role of mentoring within a trade union
• Ability to commit specified time to the mentoring role
• It will be desirable but not essential to have experience of delivering training, workshops, briefings etc. to other representatives or in the wider labour movement.

Training

Building on the success of the Mentoring for BAME and Women courses delivered previously, we will provide a two day course with the following aims:

• To develop mentoring skills
• To understand the roles and responsibilities of CWU mentors
• To understand and apply mentoring skills in line with the requisite ethical standards
• To understand and apply the processes and policies of delivering mentoring according to the CWU Exchange    Scheme

The training will be delivered by suitably qualified tutors on the following dates at the Elstead Hotel:

Course option 1: Commence 12:00 13th May 2019 – Finish 12:00 14th May 2019 

Course option 2: Commence 12:00 14th May 2019 – Finish 12:00 15th May 2019

How to apply

Potential mentors will need to apply by completing the attached application form. Please give us as much information as possible and return your application by 17:00 on 5th April 2019.

We will ask potential mentees to apply via a similar application process in due course detailing their experience to date, any barriers that they are facing and letting us know what they are looking for in a mentor.

Selection and matching of Mentees and Mentors

The Steering group will then be responsible for short listing mentors and potential mentees and for matching them with one of our trained mentors. This will be based on geography, particular areas of interest, constituency, and what they are seeking from the mentoring process.

If you are interested please return your completed application form to:

Michelle Simpson, CWU, 150 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1RX. Alternatively email your application to learn@cwu.org

Any queries relating to this LTB should be directed to Lee Wakeman (lwakeman@cwu.org) in the first instance.

Yours sincerely,

Trish Lavelle

Assistant Secretary

19LTB 168 – CWU Exchange Mentoring – Activists Supporting Activists 2019

Attachment 1 – Application Form

Royal Mail Group Holiday Pay

Further to LTB 123/19 issued on 22nd February 2019 which detailed the Union’s approach to addressing the long-standing issue of average earnings for holiday pay whilst on annual leave and getting management back to the table to negotiate a collective agreement.

As part of the aforementioned LTB, an eleven step process (that had been produced in conjunction with the Legal Services Department and presented to Divisional Representatives at the meeting in York on 20th February 2019) was circulated.

In effect, this strategy formed the first phase of our activity and we can confirm that a number of cases have already been identified and are being processed.  Whilst these are at an early stage, Royal Mail Group (RMG) are continuing to settle existing claims with individuals for periods of annual leave that have been taken where they believe average pay has not been received however this is not part of an ongoing agreement.  In short, this means that each member will have to continue submitting a separate claim for each week(s) of annual leave they take.

A further consideration is that the twelve previous weeks of average earnings are only applicable to the first four weeks of holiday pay inclusive of bank holidays and this is a time of the year when most people have already taken more than four weeks of annual leave.

That said, the initial activity has had the desired effect as RMG have indicated that they now want to engage with the Union to progress this issue.  We have now agreed that our respective legal teams will meet again to commence drafting an outline of an overall agreement and meetings are due to commence.

There is however a need to supplement our strategy with a second phase of activity in order to ensure any negotiations maintain momentum and an agreement is concluded at pace. This is a particular necessity given that the new annual leave year commences in April and members will be taking some of their four weeks allocation that currently qualify for average pay earnings.  The Union therefore want to ensure that everyone taking annual leave from April will not be penalised in respect of not being paid their average earnings whilst on leave.

We therefore need to be in a position by the start of April where every member of the Union is made fully aware of their rights and how to commence individual claims against the business.  We need Branches to give this LTB the widest possible circulation in order to kick-start this process and make members aware of their rights. This will also be supported via a communication strategy utilising Facebook and Twitter.

Following this, Branches will need to work in tandem with their Legal and Medical Officer (where applicable) and Lead Divisional Representative to ensure that the number of claims is maximised and together with our members identified in LTB 123/19 receive the holiday pay they are legally entitled to.

Please find attached to this LTB a flowchart that members making a claim need to follow, as well as paperwork containing hints that can form the basis of each grievance and the completion of the ET1 pro-forma.  Branches will also find attached a control sheet that can be used to keep a record of the claims as they are lodged.

We realise that this will be a significant piece of work but RMG must be made to appreciate that the issue of average pay on leave will not go away and that they must now sit down to reach an acceptable collective agreement with your Union.

Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department and further updates will be issued in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Pullinger
Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

BRANCH HOLIDAY PAY FLOW CHART MARCH 19

ET1 hints

Copy of Holiday pay control sheet